Return to Dracula’s Castle

We returned to 3rd ed Fury of Dracula last week. It had been played a few times at the last Knavecon and I as Dracula had gotten hammered twice in a row having talked big beforehand. A almost sure fire way of guaranteeing a loss before you start 
I’d played Dracula many times as the main man second ed. and I was eager to up my KD ration in third ed so off we set

If you like me (and the crew of firefly) like shiny you won’t be disappointed with the new edition. Everything is improved and it wasn’t too bad to start with. Art work is top notch. On the cards on the board it’s just lovely. Counters are a tad bigger and less fiddly. Combat has definitely been streamlined, note I didn’t say improved. Some of the silly OP cards are gone (not all). The models are arguably a step up too and then…. it all goes to pot
The game is just too bloody long. If Dracula is worth his garlic he’ll lead a merry dance but the end conditions are just too far away and the game drags. Yes it will speed up a bit as you learn it but not by much. By week three it accelerates dramatically points wise for Mr D but I really would have preferred a constant increase throughout not a sprint at the end. The sense of dread is not there if you can’t easily score early points 
The night and day cycle has been messed up. Before you had day lasting a few turns then night lasting a few turns and so on. Hunters had to be careful at night. Dracula was very powerful. Likewise Mr D had to avoid contact in daylight or face certain death. Now it flip flops and it’s impossible to build a plan around it. Combat has definitely been simplified and improved but it just doesn’t seem as dramatic or tense with day and night. I remember as Dracula grinning when the sun went down in second ed.

Attacking hunters is no longer a wise option. It’s so much easier just to avoid contact and hide out at sea in week three. It’s lazy. When I play a game I want options. In second ed stalking and killing a weaker hunter like Nina was magnificent and always put the dread sidewise in the hunters. 
While a number of the silly teleport, reset and gps cards are gone there’s still a couple of silly ones that allow you to instantly give up your position when you enter a sea space which kills the whole thing. 
So here’s what I want. I want Fury of Dracula 2.5. Same scoring and timer as second ed Remove a few cards and everything else from 3rd ed and now we’re sucking Diesel or more correctly blood. And I want to now. So get busy
Huzzah!
Vic